Commencements on the Farm Prof . Nolan of the agricultural extension branch of the Illinois college of agriculture Is Impressed by a new idea In rural education—It Is the holding of commencement exercises on the farm . He attended soriie of these commencements this year and came home enthusiastic In the belief that gatherings , attracted by the school as a general magnet , may furnish the basis for a revival of rural social life . By Prof . A . W . Nolan HERE is something bran new —a commencement exercise under a tent in a farm yard . The writer had the privilege of taking part in tills unique rural lite program . Mr . M . A . Andrews , of Armstrong , Illinois , is a farmerteacher—he and his school board believe that a country school teacher should be a permanent citizen ot the community , and with this policy , Mr . Andrews is a leader of his community ln agricultural and social affairs as well as in educational purposes . Upon the invitation of Mr . Andrews , four neighboring scho...

To Keep Them on the Farm By Herbert Quick IN WRIGHT COUNTY , Iowa , we had a county superintendent named Benson . Mr . Benson sent out a printed Blip asking • the children in the rural schools to answer a gceat ___ u _ njr questions .- Among these questions , and hidden in the ree ^ because , perhaps , he did not want them to understand that this was . the important question , was something like , this : What do you propose to do as your life work ? This went out to some five or six hundred pupils in the- rural schools . Over 95 per cent of the girls and over 85 per cent of the boys , If I remember the figures correctly , declared that whatever they did they would have nothing to do witi farming when they began working for themselves . . Now think of that ladies and gentlemen . Think of tiie instability of a society in which 90 per cent of the children have already made up their minds against the thing they are doing , and have fully determined to do something else ! What is the obj...

How a Pennsylvania Farm Girl Won—and Bankers Helped WHEN tha boya : and girls of the corn -growing and bread-making clubs of -Mercer county came to Mercer for tbe roundup -meeting last fall , ever a thousand people listened to the program and viewed the display . Probably few realised that this great gathering waa made possible when you turned to this page , what waa the first thing you did ? Admired the clean-cut , wholesome looking , little girl who greeted you from the center ? Of course you did .. If you were the biggest banker In the biggest city , youd be proud of her . They re proud of her in Mercer county , Pennsylvania , where she won the corn-growing championship . Aleen Fell s picture demonstrates that the farm-girl today neednt be a whit behind her city cousin In all the womanly graces—even though she Is growing corn . It s a gratification to know that the Mercer county bankers played such a part In the corn contest work . By C . G . McBride Mercer Cbunty AgriouUuriat th...

The Banker and the Farmer—As a Farm Editor Sees Them AN OBSERVATION of a third of a century leada ine to conclude that the banker of broad and brotherly view ls by odds the most influential man in his community . - Influence inevitably implies obligation . No man , even ln the humblest walk , lives unto himself alone . Unto whomsoever much ls given , of him shall be given , or mm shall be There are no better , more sincere friends of the farmer than the . editors ef the farm papers . Every banker should take these papersshould urge hi * farmer customers to read them . They have been cordial and generous Iii their welcome of THE BANKER-FARMER . What do they think of the work of the American bankers In agriculture ? Is the banker a busybody , an interloper ? We have asked several editors what they think . One of the first to respond Is W . R . Goodwin , of the Breeder s Gazette . I could have , In good heart , thrown more bouquets at the work the bankers are doing—but the serious side...

Education THIS issue of THE BANKER-FARMER devotes much space to several phases of the most fundamental of all problems—EDUCATION . Take care of the youth of the Republic , and they will take dire of the Republic . It is a maxim of German statesmen that whatever you would have appear in the life of a people , you should put into the schools . Educate a boy and you train a man ; educate a girl and you train a family . Spencer said— to prepare us for complete living is the function , which education has to discharge . Has this function been discharged ; is it now being discharged ? . If THE BANKER-FAEMER believed it was being discharged in any large or adequate measure—and particularly in the elementary grades and in the country , it would not use its cover page for Dr . Eliof s strong statement , or devote so much of its space to this paramount issue—placing better elementary schools as the foundation-stone of tiie banker-farmer program . The great constructive work we all urge is bas...

A Big Banker on Business and Politics—They Should Mix THE BASIS that is back ot the demand tor legislative restriction and control of business , I believe to be in large measure made up of sound economic facts . The . development of industrialism , within our lifetime has been of such a revolutionary character as naturally and rightly to create a demand for a body of F . A . Vanderlip , president of the National City Bank , New York , delivered an address whlchbreathed so much of citizenship and patriotIsm ; so-much every merchant , farmer , and banker can endorse ; so much that Is vital to the sort of progress we must make , that we feel It a duty to reproduce Its salient points . It evidences a degree of frankness and optimism and a breadth of vision too seldom shown by our financial and industrial leaders . Good government , like any other serviceable and practical institution , Is a matter of good business and business methods , and business men—with vision broadened and heart w...

A Slogan for Nevada By Lloyd R . Patrick Many of our far western and northwestern states are hardly considered , relatively speaking , to have agricultural possibilities but developments , scientific and otherwise , have shown that even the worst of these sella have possibilities . Mr . Lloyd R . Patrick , state statistical agent for the U . 8 . department of agriculture at Eno , Nev ., sounds a slogan for the Nevada banker and his conclusions doubtless apply far beyond the borders of Nevada * 46 million acres . Mr . Patrick points a path for thd Nevada banker to perform « great service . ONE cow or five sheep on each acre ! Such a slogan is practical for Nevada with its immense range areas of miles and almost counties tn expanse . Such a slogan has been demonstrated in some of the European nations and in few sections of this great nation . One can readily see that the problem of increasing the livestock population of Nevada resolves itself to the cultivated meadows where hay , grai...

Boost the Home Town—And it Will Pay You Back Tenfold IT IS pleasant to hear a man say my town ; . but lt Is better to hear him say our town . A MANS best possessions are his family , his neighbors and his town . Away-from-home buying never helps them and often hurts them . FRIENDSHIP , nelghborliness , fraternity or whatever you will call that spirit of comradery that comes when men know one another well , is the cement that holds together this union of the states . It is not created ln great cities . — William Allen White . The Retail Store THE RETAIL store as a way station in the channels of trade Is an Indispensable factor in perpetuating the commercial life of a community . With tbe destruction ot the commercial life of the central town or city ot a community all other forms of social life must cease to exist because they all depend upon commerce and trade . For this reason the citizen needs the town fully as much as the town , needs the citizen . Let him not suppose that in the...

Real Testimony oil Alfalfa THE NORTHWESTERN State Bank of Orange City , Ia . „ believes in alfalfa— -it ls conducting an alfalfa growing : contest and offering $ 150 ln prizes . In Its announcement , the bank says : Sioux County is worth from two to * tliree times as much today as lt was ten years ago , but we are still raising about the same number of bushels of corn ,, oats and wheat to tbe acre . Every farmer will soon be asking himself these questions : How can I increase the yield , of the , crops which I now raise ? And what new crop can I raise which will give me larger returns from my land ? The * , answer ls found in one word—ALFALFA . Heretofore our farmers have paid very little attention toalfalfa and it is practically a new crop here , writes Gerritt J . Slob , cashier . Three of our farmers who have put ln . alfalfa have had remarkable success . Enclosed find statemen signed by one of our progressive young farmers ,- showing his experience with alfalfa . Tour July numbe...

Oklahoma Bankers at Work WB . HARRISON , secretary of the Oklahoma Bankers Association , gives this account bf the work of the bankers In the southwest part ot the state : The Oklahoma Bankers Development Committee was organized in December , 1918 , under the auspices of the Agricultural Department of the Frisco Railroad . The Frisco has a large mileage in that section ot this state , and has undertaken particularly to develop dairying . Our previous work with the bankers of that section had awakened them to the great good that can be done by cooperating ipid taking the lead lh better farming work , and they very gladly took bold of tbe Frisco proposition . A general meeting-was held in Hobart , but few except bankers turned out , and the bankers were placed in the lead , of course . Splendid work has been done In the testing of milk cows free - for all farmers who desired to find out what portion of thalr herd is a profitable Investment The Frisco furnished the dairy expert to do t...

Novel Contests in North Dakota , MANY stories ot the splendid work being done by the bankers of North Dakota are continually , printed in the North Dakota Banker . We read that the Mohall State iBank has installed a Babcock milk tester in the public schools . When farmers bring samples of milk to the bank they are tested . With the assistance of the banks and business men ot Page , 22 members of the Better Community Club of that place made a trip of five days , to the dairy sections ot Minnesota . and Wisconsin . C . F . Nelson , cashier of the Citizens State Bank of Bisbee , N . D ., bought a carload of well-bred milk cows and sold them at cost . The First National Bank of the same place spent f 500 to distribute Northwestern Dent seed corn among its customers . Anthony Storehouse , cashier of the Elk Valley Bank at Larimore , has offered a $ 100 prize for the greatest improved and most convenient and . best arranged , equipped and operated farm home—not farm but HOME—a contest tha...

Germany s Business Party P RESIDENT MOEHLENPAH of the Wisconsin State Bankers Association recently said that if the business men of his state could get together and nominate a state ticket free from factions and politics , that lt would carry the state . - Did you know that Germany has a great business party— its Hansa League ? In his Berlin correspondence to the Chicago Tribune , Frederick William Wile tells about lt . In connection with Mr . Vanderlip s address on Business and Politics , from which we quote elsewhere , the story of the league Is timely . Hansa League , the first political party ln the world ever organized by business men for strictly business politics , has just completed the first five years of its existence , writes Mr . Wile . It has become an undoubted constructive force In German public affairs . Nonpartisan in the customary sense of the term , being made up of members of -all nxiaHng regular * political parties except Conservative-Agrarians and Social Democr...

Tenant Jones Takes the Stand rIANT farming has long been on trial in the United States . The landowner has been heard . Agricultural economists have bad their say . Let tbe tenant himself take the stand . Call T . H . Jones , a farmer ot Oklahoma . So long as tenantry Increases , beef and dairy cattle will decrease , testifies Tenant Jones . The fertility of the soil will decrease—society will lag and public Improvements will be slow and unsatisfactory—we will continue to raise our children in the cotton fields , instead of ln the school room . Give us homes of our own and we . will raise more cattle , put the manure back on the land , raise more feed and less cotton , build barns and send our children to fechooL This tenant s testimony was given in Farm Life , under the caption , Because we have no homes . Mr . Jones has a knack of putting things forcibly . Let ns hear him further : Why dont we raise more toot cattle ? Because we rent land and our pastures are too small . Because t...

Give Educational , Not Cash Prizes C ASH prizes and junkets for young prize winners in corn , canning , poultry and other contests are discouraged by the United States department of agriculture , whose recommendation should be considered carefully by ail organizations of bankers interested ln fostering movements among the young . Scholarships in state colleges of agriculture are suggested tor state winners and short courses for the county winners . Instead of cash prizes , such rewards as a pair of registered pigs , a pair ot full blooded chickens , a fine colt a registered calf , books on agriculture , a fireless cooker ( for girls ) and so on , are suggested . In general it is better to offer many small prizes than a few large ones . If 20 boys try for a prize and only one is fortunate , some of the 19 unsuccessful contestants will probably be too discouraged to try again . But if 6 of the boyu are rewarded tor their efforts , more merit will have received recognition and the rema...

What They Say RJ . BECKMANN , cashier Beckmann State bank , Ferdinand , Ind . —At first we thought lt a failure for the only reason that all our farmers are Germans and poor at reading English . With the younger element lt made quite * hit We had seven requests for the paper yesterday and they want to subscribe for it themselves . Under no circumstances ought rou to take In advertisements . Roy A Downs , cashier First National bank of Cedaredge , Colo . —The enclosed letter Will give you an Idea aa to what we are using THE BANKER-FARMERS for—mailing out ISO to our representative farmers , keeping a close tab of them and will watch results . With this strong journal mailed out each month for the year we cannot help believe we will receive some benefit from the venture . In all tbe writer s thirteen years of experience in this line—having been active in a more or less degree tor several of those years ln this matter of diversified farming , dairying , live stock , fertilizers , etc . ...

A Pennsylvania Farm Girl Won ( Continued from page S ) good day s work ; there was some left that I did not get hoed or weeds out for a week or ten days , and it showed in the corn . The next week I cultivated it for the last time with two-horse cultivator , as the corn wu getting too high . Just after this we had a heavy rain with wind , which blew a lot of my corn down , taking part of two days to straighten lt up . One of . these days I had the pleasure of a visit trom Mr . McBride and Professor Gerberich , although I wasnt dressed to receive company . Along in August Mr . McBride sent some seed , consisting of sweet clover , rape , soy beans and vetch , to be sown between the rows . This seed I sowed and cultivated in with one-horse cultivator , going twice ln center of row , because I did not want to get too close to tbe stalks snd injur * the roots . The soy beans and sweet clover did , not come up good , but the other seed did nicely . At this time I noticed the lower end of ...

Business and Politics ( Continued from page 9 ) bring public opinion to a better understanding ot the needs of business , to a better understanding that legislation must be along correct economic lines or it will bring disaster to all I would so organize the business men of the whole country that mere agitators whether ln Congress or out of Congress , may be held up in their true light to the public . I would openly go into the district of a demagogue and either defeat him or prove that the public of that district wanted to be represented by a known demagogue . » • • • » Let us frankly admit that there have been examples of wrong doing in business . Some of that wrong doing has bes ^ of the kind that some of the commandments were aimed at and which at the mlHenium will be eliminated from human nature—and not before . But the percentage of such wrong doing ln proportion to the total of business is smaller than It ever waa before ; I believe ; and it you will take the public into your...

A NEW SPECIAL OFFER THE DEMAND from bankers for THE BANKERFARMER to distribute among their customers ia growing so steadily that about 25 per cent ot the circulation goes that way . Our special offer ot 100 or more copies per month tor three or more months , sent to ONE address , for one cent a copy , still holds . But many bankers desire us to mail direct to their lists ot customers and we will do this ln lots of 100 or more per month ( tor three or more months ) folded , wrapped , addressed and mailed postpaid at 2 } $ cents per copy— $ 2 . 25 per 100 . Orders must reach ua before the 23 rd of each month accompanied by draft ln full . Among the most recent banks to utilize THE . BANK-ER-FARMER are the following : Rosenberg State bank , Rosenberg , Tex . Cassodway State bank , Cassoday , Kan . Calloway bank , Fulton , Mo . C . D . Babb , Homer , m . Bank of Ingraham , Ingraham , IH . Citizens National bank , Pulaski , Tenn . Farmers Savings bank . Marbury , Ala . First National ban...